By Chris Kovatch

 

This past week has definitely been eventful. The repairs to my car were completed and I am out of the rental minivan.

While I acknowledge the practicality of a minivan, it isn’t a vehicle I particularly enjoy driving. Needless to say, I am ecstatic to be back in my Pilot. We also made a quick trip to Austin to meet our newest nephew, Kenneth (Kenny).

Kenny gets his name from my late father in law, Ken Thayer. It makes me happy to know that he is being remembered in such a unique way.

It is amazing how quickly you can forget how little babies really are when they are first born. Our youngest in the home is 2 ½ and is a sturdy little toddler. Cradling a newborn baby in your arms makes me think about fostering another one. Then I remember the diapers and also the fact that we are already raising six kids.

I guess I will just have to maximize time with my nieces and nephews as they are born.

It’s amazing how quickly kids grow up. I think back to when Jackson was first born and at the time high school seemed so far away and yet here we are and he is a freshman.

Granted we still have 16 years until our youngest hypothetically leaves for college, but I often wonder what an empty house will be like. Just knowing how life works, I am sure we will always have some sort of craziness going on in our life, but what will it be like with our current level of crazy not in full effect?

I often struggle with time management and the priority I assign to things going on in my life. I tend to allow things to shift my focus from my family at times. It is something I have always battled and probably will be an issue for me for the rest of my life.

I try to regularly ensure my focus is where it needs to be. This refocusing is so important because life continually pulls us in a million different directions and causes us to lose sight of our priorities.

Serving in my community, taking kids to sports practices, and a number of other activities are all worthwhile, but at the end of the day, my family should be my main priority. Life seems to flow so much better when my priorities are as they should be. I believe if we all took time to regularly assess our priorities, we might begin to see the world start to become a little bit better place.

So here’s to a good week and one where we all hopefully take a pause to ensure we are all on the path we should be on.